


Young, Fun, and Carefree

by PaddieCake



Series: Cold and Cruel, Self-Absorbed and Narcissistic [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Allison Hargreeves-centric, Canonical Character Death (mentioned), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Grace is Trying, Kid Fic, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Make-believe games, Non-Consensual Tattooing of Minors, Numbers as Names, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Semi-Reliable Narrators, Semi-brief mentions of gore and dearh, Sibling hugging and hand holding, Underage Drinking (mentioned), Underage Drug Use (brief)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24842932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaddieCake/pseuds/PaddieCake
Summary: The Hargreeves are children, and then they aren't.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Cold and Cruel, Self-Absorbed and Narcissistic [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797274
Comments: 30
Kudos: 291
Collections: Canon Divergent AUs





	Young, Fun, and Carefree

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of a new series focusing on Klaus and Allison. This is a prologue of sorts. Some background stuff... 
> 
> For the majority of this the Hargreeves are under ten (around 7, I'd say?). There's a bit for their 13th birthday, and then maybe 17 at the end.

Number Four hated target practice. He was afraid of getting hurt, but more importantly it made Number Two sad. Four tried hard to be very quiet and very still, but Two was still always sad after. 

And that was _bad._

Two was his _best_ friend. He didn't get mad when Four wanted to hug him like One and Five did, he didn't want to be left alone all the time like Six and Seven, didn't insist he _couldn't_ play with him like Three did. 

Four didn't know why she wanted Seven to play clothes with her _anyway._ Seven didn't want to play _anything_ , _ever,_ and last Saturday _he_ wanted to play clothes. Three said only Seven could play, she _always_ said only she and Seven could play. 

Two saw that Four was upset, and he gave Four a magazine he'd found, that Four was pretty sure belonged to mom. The people inside were very pretty, and had very pretty clothes. Two helped him cut the people and clothing out of the magazine for the entire half hour they had last weekend. Mommy had even taught them how to cut out little tabs so he could _put_ the clothes on the paper people and play clothes that way. They hadn't gotten to play with them _yet_ , but Two promised they could this Saturday during play time and Four was _very_ excited for that.

But now he was worried that Two might not want to anymore if he messed up. When Four messed up Two didn't like being around him. 

(Two had said that he wasn't upset with _Four_ when he was angry, but Four knew if that were true Two wouldn't avoid him). 

(It was ok, though. Four messed up a lot and Two only got upset with him _sometimes_ ).

So he was not excited for this. 

Because today they were using the rubber knife. 

Four knows they used it once before, but he also knows that it hurt bad enough he doesn't actually _remember_ them using it. Just that it hurt bad enough he had a big bump on his head for a few days.

Two wouldn't talk to him until after the bump was gone, and just got angry when Four apologized.

So Four was… nervous. His knees were shaking, but he also knew that if he was _too_ scared dad would probably just try to make him _less_ scared. Four hadn't learned how to do that yet. He could read, and write, and tell the difference between a poisonous mushroom and an edible mushroom. He was even almost as good as Five was at math (almost because Five was a nerd who tried too hard) (Four read that word in the magazine Two brought him). But he didn't know how to be less scared. 

He was just glad Two's training room was _quiet_. It was a lot easier pretending to not be scared when the only people he could see had all their limbs, and weren't screaming.

Well except for dad, but Four knew _he_ was alive because he didn't follow him _everywhere_ being angry at him, just sometimes in some places.

The whistle sounded.

Four tried not to move though. He could feel the knife pass by him, hitting the wall beside him with a thud. 

He let out a sigh of relief, and gave Two a thumbs up.

"Again." Dad said.

Two hit the targets every time, and by the tenth knife Four didn't even flinch. 

"Excellent, Number Two. Next week we'll practice with real knives." Dad said, jotting something down in his clipboard. 

Two got that look on his face, the one that meant he was sad. Four sighed, he didn't think Two would play with him this Saturday after all.

"I'll be really still like I was today, I _promise_." Four said soft, holding on to Two's hand.

Two didn't say anything, which meant he _wanted_ to say something but was having trouble. 

"You won't hurt me." Four said. "You didn't hit me once today, it'll be fine." 

Two shook his head.

No, Four didn't believe it either, no matter how much he wanted to. 

"Can we still play together this Saturday?" Four asked. Two nodded.

It didn't matter.

Dad decided to try a new training method for Four that Saturday, instead of his usual Thursdays at the cemetery. 

Two was angry until Four started crying. He hadn't meant to miss free-time, or make Two sad. Four guessed Two understood that because he wasn't angry anymore.

After _that_ Saturday, dad only took him to The Mausoleum (and even the word scared him) during his normal training day, which meant Four was able to play again.

And the next time they had target practice and they used _real_ knives, Two only ruined his shirt, and didn't hit Four at all.

But their next free-time Two decided he wanted to play bugs with One and Six instead.

Five was with Seven, and Three was trying to get Seven to play with her _again_ , and when Four said he would play with Three she said he couldn't, _again._

Now, sometimes Four _liked_ playing bugs. They were squishy and crunchy, and they tickled when they walked on you, and Four liked all the _nerd_ facts Six read about them.

But today Four didn't want to play bugs, and Two _did_ even though they were supposed to play paper-clothes today because they hadn't gotten to yet.

So Four huffed and played by himself, until the lady in the corner got too loud. (How could someone with no bottom jaw be so _loud_ ). She had followed him from The Mausoleum, and she was scary, and Four couldn't concentrate anymore.

He went outside to watch One, Two, and Six, because sometimes it was quieter outside, and his brothers weren't missing limbs, or bleeding, or screaming except for excitement when Six spotted a bright green bug. 

Four was excited for him, and he even got to hold it. 

And when free-time was over, Four asked Two if they could play paper clothes next Saturday, and they did, and then they played again together the Saturday after that.

And then for a little while Four was happy to play bugs, or tag like Two wanted. 

Four knew Two didn't really _like_ playing dolls (mom called them paper dolls one time, but 'dolls' was shorter), so Four let him choose the kinds of adventures they went on, and they were usually really fun. (Even if both of them knew that the fancy clothes they wore weren't practical for fighting dragons in an ice cream shop). 

So Four didn't mind playing Two's games when he really wanted to, especially since he usually liked them anyway.

\--

\--

Three didn't know what Seven's problem was. She never wanted to do _anything_ unless she could sit and read while doing it. That included playing dress up. It didn't matter how much she tried to get Seven to play _with_ her she never did anything other than sit there. 

Three huffed angrily, stomping to her room when Grace stopped her.

"What's the matter dear?" She said, smiling like she always did. 

Three didn't like her. Mostly because her powers didn't work on Grace, and Three _always_ had to do what she said. But sometimes she helped her, and maybe she could get Seven to play with her.

"Seven doesn't want to dress up with me _again_. Can you make her? Please?" Three didn't like using her powers on Seven. She didn't think it was fair to pick on someone who was ordinary like she was.

Grace hummed softly, patting Three's hair. "I think Seven prefers her reading, don't you?"

Three huffed, crossing her arms. 

"Why don't you go play with Four? I think he and Two are in his room, and Four likes dress-up."

Three frowned. "Two and Four are probably playing dumb boy games." She said, Four shouldn't play dress-up anyway, but she marched to Four's bedroom anyway.

There they were, but instead of playing with bugs, or something gross like they did sometimes, they had colorful bits of paper scattered everywhere. The boys were each holding ones that look like people, and Four was in the middle of folding a pink dress over his paper while Diego was making strange roaring noises.

"What is all this?" 

Four looked at Three, frowning at her and hugging his paper to his chest. "You can't play with us." He said.

Two looked up at her, eyes small like they got when he was angry.

"I don't _want_ to, I just want to know what it is."

"T-t-they're d-d-dolls." Two said. "A-and F-Four and I d-dress them up, and they go on adventures and s-stuff. " 

Three eyed the papers again. That sounded like fun. She wanted to play now, too.

"Why can't I play?" Three asked. She could see other people shaped papers that Four and Two weren't using, she could be one of them.

"Because you go play clothes with Seven, and Two and I play with these." Four said. 

Three huffed and rolled her eyes. "It's _dress-up._ And you're a _boy_ , and I said only girls can play dress-up." The book she'd learned it from said it was for girls too, and Three knew books had facts and rules, and you had to follow the rules.

"Well Seven doesn't play, and I want to, but can't, so _I_ said this game is only for me and Two so _you_ can't play with us." Four said. 

Three heard a rumor Four gave her his dolls and he began putting them into a box.

Two pushed her and they fought. 

Four tried to save his papers once her rumor wore off, and the three of them ended up in a fight. 

When they were pulled apart by One the papers were all ripped up and wrinkled. 

Four sat down and cried. 

"What happened?" One asked her. Two gave Three a dirty look as he tried to calm Four down.

Three frowned, a strange feeling in her tummy that made her feel sick. 

"Three broke Four's things." Two said. "They were _his_ . And I helped him and you _broke_ them." He said, pushing Three. 

Three looked down. She felt angry. "You should have let me play, then." She scolded, crossing her arms. But that didn't make her feel better.

"Why couldn't Three play with you?" One asked. He was annoyed for her, and Three smiled at him. 

"Because she doesn't let me play with her." Four said, trying to stop crying. "We spent a whole free time cutting those out, and they're broken."

Three didn't know that… A whole three-time was a lot . She felt even more angry, and she didn't know why. 

One frowned, and his eyebrows got a little wrinkle in the middle. It was his thinking face, and Three knew he was on her side. 

"Three, next Saturday you should help Four make new ones, then… to replace the broken ones and play with each other."

Three didn't feel any better. She felt like she _lost_. But Four didn't seem happy to have won. He said "Fine." Very quietly and very sadly. 

"It won't be the same, he liked _those_ dolls." Two said, poking One in the chest. 

One frowned. He had to know Two was being dumb, but instead he bent down to pick up a few of the people. Only one of them was still intact. "Well you can make new ones." He said, handing the paper to Four. Four didn't move, pulling his knees into his chest. 

"It's fine." He said, lip quivering. 

Three _hated_ it when he cried. Mostly because it made her feel bad. 

"It isn't fine." Two said.

"I didn't mean to _break_ them." she snapped, trying to make him feel better, but it didn't seem to work. 

One didn't like when Four cried either. Three knew it made him feel like he did something wrong, even if he _hadn't._ "I can help you make new ones next weekend? With you and Two ok? Grace gets these magazines every week, and I see the same people on them… And some of these clothes are still ok." One said, crouching down in front of Four, showing him a few papers that weren't ruined. "We can put something heavy on top and it'll flatten them out again, and I'll help, and Three will help, ok?

Three didn't want to help, Two shouldn't have pushed her. It was his fault Four was upset in the first place.

It was one of the few times Two didn't say anything to One, maybe because it got Four to stop crying. "O-ok..."

Three still felt angry, but she was glad that Four wasn't upset anymore. 

"I'm sorry I ruined your papers." Three said,l, voice quiet. She didn't get why Four wanted to do something that he shouldn't, but... "Maybe… we can play dress up too, sometime?" She asked Four.

Four smiled at her, and the anger she felt went away. 

\--

\--

Four and Three played dress-up, and it wasn't what he was expecting. Three seemed to agree. 

The way she had explained it made it sound really _really_ fun, where they got to try on a bunch of fun clothes, but their clothes _weren't_ fun. Their shirts and jackets were the same, and while Four _liked_ the skirt Three had, it wasn't much different than how he normally looked or felt. 

Three said maybe the people in the books were richer then they were because they got so many kinds of clothes. 

Two said he didn't think that was it, and Four didn't either. None of the people in books had as many rooms as their house did.

So Four suggested mom's clothes, because hers were pretty like in the magazines, but Three said they shouldn't because Grace (Three, Five, and One didn't call her mom, Four didn't know why) might tell dad and get them in trouble. Dad's clothes were completely out for reasons stated above.

Also dad was scary even if he wasn't angry.

Only some of their books had people like that, and they weren't supposed to like them.

Four was pretty sure he didn't like dad, but then he felt bad about it, because some of the books had people who didn't even have dads, so having a bad dad was better than none, he supposed. 

But Three asked if they could play with his dolls instead, and Four was nervous. He and Two had managed to build up a bigger collection after _The Breakening_ (Four thought it sounded fun and dramatic, even if it _really_ did upset him at the time. It was easier to make things seem fun, even if they weren't) with One's help like he had promised, but Four was worried.

What if Three tried to steal them from him again?

"I _promise_ I won't break them. But you and Two looked like you had a lot of fun playing with them." Three said, and Four hadn't thought to worry about her breaking them. That was worse.

Four nodded, but he wanted to ask Two first, because Two had been just as upset as he had been, and Two had put in the _most_ work in the collection, because it was his idea in the first place.

But Two said it was ok as long as Four didn't mind, so he and Three spent the last ten minutes of free time putting on a fashion show for their dolls. 

Four kind of preferred Two's adventures, but Three said that maybe they could combine them next time, especially with Two's help. 

But next weekend Two said he and Three could play without him. Two didn't _seem_ upset, because he wanted to play hide and seek with Five and One, but Four wasn't sure.

"It's ok, you know I d-don't really like playing that game anyw-way." Two had said, rubbing Four's back. "Don't feel bad, you didn't do anything wrong, promise." 

Four nodded, still not sure if he believed Two, but Two didn't _usually_ lie to him, so he guessed he should. (Four had trouble telling when he _had_ done something wrong, so he was glad when someone could at least tell him he _hadn't)._

"Ok, if I want to play outside with you next time, can I?"

And Two nodding excitedly made Four feel a lot better. 

Three and Four managed to make up their own adventure without Two, they had made the dragon into the ice cream shop, and since Four had found some ice cream pictures the dragon shot those at their characters. 

Three and Four both agreed they wanted to try ice cream one day.

And then Seven came in, spotting the two of them giggling and covered in little bits of crumpled notebook paper they were pretending were pieces of rubble.

"Can I play?" She asked. Three seemed to want to let her, but Four felt his stomach tighten.

If Seven started to play would Four have to stop?

"They're Four's dolls, you have to ask him." Three said, instead of just saying she could play, which eased Four's fear a bit.

But that didn't mean she and Three _wouldn't_ kick him from his games either.

"I thought you didn't like playing dress-up." Four said instead.

"But this is like stories." She argued, and then she bit her lip and stepped back, and Four didn't mean to make her sad.

"Fine… you can be this one, she's a lion tamer, but we don't have a lion yet so you have to pretend." Four said, handing Seven Tiffany. 

Tiffany was one of Four's favorites. Her normal clothes were the prettiest, and her hair was fluffy, and she could tame lions, which was an awesome power. He really hoped Seven appreciated it.

Seven wasn't very good at dolls. She didn't try to include _anything_ new. When Three decided to make the dragon in this story half lion, Seven just had Tiffany run from the dragon like Marisa and Clark _had_ to because their protective armor was destroyed by his poison breath. 

So the dragon kept wreaking havoc while Four and Three picked out new armor, and the dragon ended up eating two of the villagers.

Four was glad Billy and Lena couldn't really turn into ghosts. But he still teared up a little at the thought. They tried very hard to make sure no one died. 

And when time was up, Four put the toys away in his box and tucked them under the bed, and he didn't want to play with Seven anymore because she just copied whatever they were doing, and didn't try to help.

Seven even tried to _keep_ Tiffany, and Four had to stop her.

Three seemed to be annoyed too. "Maybe we shouldn't play this for a little while so she forgets about them." Three whispered to Four as they held hands, heading down to training. 

Four didn't know what Seven did, but he was jealous. 

He did like that Three seemed to be more willing to play with him, though. She wasn't even upset that they were holding hands!

"Yeah, she doesn't even try, Tiffany could have totally tamed that dragon, we made it _easy_ for her." He agreed. 

Three nodded, and they let go of each other as Four went and hugged Number Two before getting into line. Four liked being able to touch his siblings, sometimes he got cold, and sometimes he just liked knowing they were ok. Five didn't even seem to mind him playing with his blazer today, so aside from Seven being bad at dolls today was a good day. 

\--

Allison, Allison, _Allison_ . She _loved_ her name. It wasn't in any of the magazines or books she and _Klaus_ (And Luther, and Diego, and Ben, and Vanya, and Five who was deciding on the names that Grace offered him) used as reference for their toys when they were younger (only a few years ago, but _Allison_ felt very grown up getting her name today). 

But Allison _loved_ her name. And she loved her siblings names, even Five's though he didn't have one yet, and Vanya's even though she wasn't particularly interesting to be around. 

They never had _real_ names before, not. grown up ones like Reginald or Grace, but now they _did_.

(Allison wasn't sure names were given based on age, but if the only people with names she knew were adults, they had to be, right?)

(Then again, the names she read in books sometimes belonged to children so maybe it was just an Academy thing.) 

And they would be getting to go on missions soon, after all the years of training they had. But dad had a surprise for them for their birthday, something to being 'unity and pride to the Academy'. 

Diego (Diego Diego) said it was probably going to be more matching uniforms, but Allison hoped it was something more fun.

They got their free time for half an hour as always on Saturday, and dad said they could have an extra half hour for their birthday.

Klaus said it was probably because he was too busy to train them, but he'd been getting a bit more cynical like Diego was recently. Allison didn't mind too much, because they still played dress up, even though three months ago Klaus had fallen down the stairs and broken his jaw. 

Klaus had jumped, and for a second it seemed like he was floating, but then he fell 

Allison had rumored his jaw to heal, but it didn't work.

Luckily he was only stuck wearing wires for four weeks, (Klaus had written four for four, which made Allison laugh through her crying) because Grace had said it could have been eight. 

But, they still played together, and read magazines, and talked about cute boys (and girls for Klaus, sometimes), and clothes, and now that Allison had some nail polish they did each other's nails. 

Klaus preferred black, and Allison figured it was because his fingernails were always dirty. She didn't know why, and the one time she asked he had stalked off to talk to Diego instead. 

When _she_ talked to Luther about it he shrugged. And then she tried to talk to Diego, but he didn't say anything, only asked not to bring it up again.

She hadn't. 

Then their birthday arrived, they were thirteen, _teens_. And mom was going to let them have a cake.

She let _Seven_ choose the flavor, which wasn't really fair. It was the only time they were allowed to have cake, and Vanya didn't even _do_ anything most times except practice her violin _all the time_ , but she got to choose the cake flavor? 

And Allison knew she would choose something with jelly because when they snuck out to Griddy's she always chose jelly, and Allison hated jelly. 

Klaus came running into Allison's room, panting. She didn't think he'd been drinking yet, but it was hard to tell sometimes.

Allison hated when he smelled like alcohol.

"There's some guy downstairs. He's wearing like… I don't know... but he had this whole big bag with him, and he's setting up the chair in the foyer." He said.

Allison frowned "Like the dentist chair? Mom usually does our teeth."

Klaus shrugged "Dad saw me and told me to gather everyone, well us, you know." He said, waving vaguely in the direction of Vanya's room. 

"Ok, I'll go find Luther and Ben, I think they were in the library." She said. Besides, Klaus got along better with Five and Diego than she did. 

They were all gathered in the foyer within ten minutes, and Klaus volunteered to go sit down in the chair first. She knew it was because Klaus liked meeting people, and she knew he was trying to get dad to like him more.

She didn't know if it was working, but dad had been spending more time with Klaus. Only Diego seemed to know what was happening, but judging by how tense Klaus was, and how angry Diego was towards Luther nowadays whenever he mentioned dad, it couldn't have been good.

Allison liked when she got extra training, but Klaus barely liked talking about his powers to begin with.

That bothered her a bit since _they_ were friends too. But he only ever spoke to Diego, who was a jerk most of the time, and didn't even like the same things she and Klaus liked.

But then a gun shaped tool came out, bringing everyone's attention to it. And then it was pressed into Klaus' wrist. He was trying very hard not to cry. (He'd been trying very hard to cry less for awhile, with varying degrees of success). 

When he was done he stood off to the side, cradling his wrist.

Allison decided to go next. Maybe it wasn't that bad, Klaus _was_ softer, and maybe he'd appreciate her being a good sister by being able to comfort him.

It was bad.

It was _really_ bad.

It hurt and burned and stung, and Allison tried not to cry too, but she couldn't help it, and Klaus ended up hugging her in comfort instead of the other way around. 

\--

Klaus was cold, and tired, and he just wanted to be alone.

Well no, he hated being alone.

Or did he?

Klaus was having more trouble remembering who was alive and who wasn't, so he guessed he wanted to be alone.

Five had disappeared, never having picked a name for himself. He might have been dead, though Klaus was sure he'd know. 

And now Ben _was_ dead, and no one believed he was there.

Right now, thankfully, he wasn't.

So Klaus numbed himself the way he always did, embracing the sweet _something_ he felt as the Molly he'd taken overtook his senses, embracing the sweet, false, happiness that consumed him.

With any luck he wouldn't remember the funeral.

**Author's Note:**

> Vanya is that RP-er who really wants to RP and promises they're really interested in pushing the story forward, and helping with plot, but then only writes just enough to answer your character's dialogue without adding anything to the story, but she's trying.


End file.
